Devouring demons, I attain immortality.

Lin An stood before the newly formed Primordial Dragon Gate, the Nine-Turn Demon-Slaying Blade in his hand emitting a clear dragon's roar.

The blade reflected the outline of the mountains and rivers of the Cangwu Realm. Seventy-two suspended immortal mountains were like chains wrapped around the dragon-shaped earth veins, and the golden runes flowing on the mountains were clearly a suppression technique.

"Fellow Daoist, please wait!"

A clear female voice rang out along with the sound of swords, and three sword lights landed, transforming into black-robed cultivators.

The woman at the head of the group had a red birthmark between her eyebrows that gleamed with an eerie golden light. "The Heavenly Sword Sect's Inspector is here. Dragonfall Abyss is a forbidden area. Please, fellow Daoist..."

She suddenly fell silent.

As Lin An turned around, the dragon shadow that vaguely appeared in the void behind him caused the Sky Compass to shatter instantly.

The three people's natal flying swords trembled uncontrollably, and the dragon crystals embedded in the hilts were oozing crimson blood streaks.

"A sword spirit nourished with dragon's blood?"

Lin An lightly touched the blade with his fingertips, and the Autumn Water Longsword emitted a mournful cry like that of a young dragon.

The woman staggered backward, the communication jade talisman she had crushed in her sleeve turning into golden threads and disappearing into the clouds. "Who exactly are you...?"

A thunderous dragon roar came from the ground, and the entire Fallen Dragon Abyss suddenly trembled.

The rock beneath Lin An's feet cracked, revealing a deeply buried bronze altar with array patterns identical to those used in the punishment of having scales gouged out three hundred years ago!

"Xiao Wuyai respectfully welcomes the Holy Ancestor!"

A deep male voice shook the rocks, and suddenly nine black iron chains descended from the sky.

The green-robed cultivator walked on chains, leaving behind blood-red lotus flowers in the void with each step.

As he unfurled the landscape scroll in his hand, Lin An felt a sudden burning pain in his body's reverse scale, and the scroll clearly contained half of a remnant soul of a blue dragon!

"Distinguished guest, please take a look!"

Xiao Wuyai lightly touched the scroll, and the remnant soul struggled to reveal a memory: Ten thousand years ago, the Cangwu cultivators hunted the Azure Dragon, and the dragon's blood stained the three thousand miles of cloud sea red.

The cultivation methods of those cultivators were seven-tenths similar to those of the Bronze Ancient Clan!

Lin An pressed down on the trembling Demon-Slaying Blade, and seventy-two Dragon-Suppressing Pillars rose from the abyss.

At the top of each stone pillar sat a cultivator with his eyes closed, and the spiritual energy threads extending from their crowns were entwined around the dying dragon souls within the earth's veins.

"The cultivators of Cangwu feed on dragon veins."

Xiao Wuyai's smile was gentle and refined, yet a phantom of a Taotie appeared behind him. "Fellow Daoist possesses pure dragon energy; may I borrow it for three days to comprehend it?"

Suddenly, a baby's cry shattered the silence.

The dragon-suppressing pillar in the northwest collapsed with a roar, and a blood-red python-like shadow emerged from within it.

The Nine Netherworld Python coiled among the clouds, its vertical pupils fixed on Lin An as it hissed, "The Demon Lord has decreed that this dragon vein belongs to the Nine Netherworld!"

With a cold laugh, Lin An appeared atop the python's head, his reverse scales transforming into black gauntlets that gripped the snake's eyes.

Just as it was about to exert its power, the third eye suddenly opened between the foreheads of the Nether Serpent—and what was rotating in that pupil was clearly the face of the ancient bronze priest!

"You think you can start over by escaping to a new world?"

The python spoke in human language, and bronze patterns appeared on its body.

"We have long ago..."

The blade flashed like moonlight. The severed snake head still seemed to speak, but black mud oozed from the cut, solidifying in the air into a faceless figure.

The shadow raised its hand and gently stroked it, and the severed Dragon-Suppressing Pillar turned into dust, revealing a crimson chunk of flesh writhing deep within the earth's veins—the very core of the corrupted dragon vein!

"Greetings from Guixu."

The Faceless One's voice was like sandpaper being rubbed.

"When all nine dragons are dyed red, then you will be..."

Lin An suddenly pierced his palm with the tip of his knife, using dragon blood as ink to draw talismans in the air.

When the crimson runes were imprinted on the flesh, the earth's veins throughout the Cangwu Realm suddenly trembled.

Warning bells rang simultaneously across the seventy-two immortal mountains, and countless cultivators were horrified to discover that their natal magic treasures were slowly transforming into dragons!

Xiao Wuyai's landscape scroll suddenly burst into flames, and for the first time, a crack appeared on his gentle face: "You actually managed to contaminate the spiritual veins?!"

"It's simply an example of using their own methods against them."

Lin An stepped onto the mangled body of the Nether Serpent and walked towards the abyss, his Demon-Slaying Blade carving deep trenches into the ground.

"Tell the people behind you—this time, it's my turn to hunt them down."

As he leaped into the dragon vein, hundreds of miles away in the forbidden area of ​​Medicine King Valley, dragon blood embryos soaking in hundreds of glass jars filled with spiritual liquid suddenly opened their eyes.

When Lin An opened his eyes in the dragon vein, his entire body was filled with bronze-colored chaotic dragon breath.

He raised his hand and made a grasping motion. The remaining demonic energy of the Nine Netherworld Python condensed into a jet-black jade slip. He swept it over with his divine sense and then sneered: "The Nine Netherworld Demon Lord actually intends to refine me using the Gluttonous Devouring Heaven Technique?"

The Demon-Slaying Blade suddenly emitted a bloodthirsty hum.

Outside the abyss, Xiao Wuyai was activating the Mountain and River Map. In the painting, the Taotie Dharma Image opened its huge mouth and devoured all the spiritual energy within a hundred miles.

The seventy-two Dragon Pillars wailed, and the bodies of the cultivators with their eyes closed withered at a visible speed.

"System, analyze this Dharma form."

A bronze wheel appeared in Lin An's sea of ​​consciousness; it was the Devouring Ancestral Artifact, nurtured through three hundred lifetimes of reincarnation.

As the wheel spun, the core Dao patterns of the Taotie Dharma Image were disassembled into 36,000 runes.

A sudden clap of thunder rang out from outside.

Xiao Wuyai's landscape painting was stained with blood, and the spiritual energy that should have been devoured turned into the shape of reverse scales and devoured its master.

When he was horrified to discover that his life essence was being drained away, Lin An had already appeared between Taotie's eyebrows, stepping on the dragon vein.

"Swallowing the heavens?"

A phantom image of the Devouring Roulette appeared in Lin An's palm.

"I'll teach you what true devouring is!"

The Taotie Dharma Image suddenly trembled violently and collapsed into a black hole the size of a grain of rice in Lin An's palm.

Xiao Wuyai coughed up blood from all seven orifices, watching helplessly as his Dharma form, which he had painstakingly cultivated for a thousand years, was extracted. Even more terrifying was that his Dao Integration Level 3 cultivation was plummeting!

"No......"

He crushed the life-saving jade talisman, only to see Lin An open his mouth and swallow the black hole into his stomach.

In an instant, the world changed color, the seventy-two dragon-suppressing pillars collapsed simultaneously, and a terrifying dragon roar came from the depths of the earth.

[System Notification: Obtained Gluttonous Origin (Fragment), Fusion Progress 12%!]

Three months later, at the Tianji Stele Forest.

Lin An ran his fingertips across the mottled stone tablet, and the inscription suddenly came to life and twisted.

As the words "Bronze Tribulation" oozed with dragon blood, the sound of clothes rustling through the air came from behind.

The twelve elders of the Xuanji Pavilion formed the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Formation. The elder in the lead, holding the Measuring Ruler, sneered, "You bear forbidden karma; please follow us..."

Before the words were finished, the measuring ruler suddenly burst into black flames.

The old man was horrified to discover that the causal threads wrapped around Lin An were actually backfiring on the Star Array.

What's even more terrifying is that at the ends of those causal threads, their respective life souls are clearly connected!

"cause and effect?"

Lin An casually tore off a bloodline, and an elder suddenly turned to ashes.

"When you were deducing the secrets of heaven, did you foresee this calamity that will strike you today?"

The members of Xuanji Pavilion were terrified and tried to flee, but they discovered that every step they took triggered ripples in spacetime.

Behind Lin An, a unique Netherworld halo appeared, and countless bronze chains extended from the shadows beneath his feet.

As the chains pierced the crowns of everyone's heads, the inscriptions on the entire Heavenly Mystery Stele Forest suddenly reversed!

[System Notification: Absorbed the Mysterious Pavilion's Millennium-Old Deduction Technique; Heavenly Secret Strategy Deduction Level +9!]

Six months later, in the forbidden area of ​​Medicine King Valley.

When Lin An shattered the last barrier of the alchemy furnace, the three thousand dragon blood embryos cried out at the same time.

Floating in each glass jar is an infant resembling him, with a bronze-like gleaming scale throbbing at its heart.

"Your methods are friendly."

The purple-robed alchemist emerged from the blood mist, holding in his hands the very seed of the Bronze Divine Tree from back then.

"To have reached this point, one must have already reached the peak of the Yin-Yang Realm? What a pity..."

The seed suddenly took root and sprouted, instantly growing into a towering bronze tree.

Three hundred pained faces appeared on the tree trunk, representing Lin An's reincarnations throughout history.

The fruit hanging from the branches is a magnified version of the Reverse Scale!

"The cycle of Yin and Yang!"

Lin An's pupils transformed into the sun and moon, his left eye spewing forth primordial chaos fire, and his right eye flowing with profound dark water.

The moment the water and fire merged, the bronze tree began to grow in reverse, and the human faces screamed as they were pulled back to the trunk.

The purple-robed alchemist suddenly self-destructed his physical body, his primordial spirit carrying the seed as he vanished into the void: "Just wait! When the nine great dragon veins return to chaos, you will be..."

Before he could finish speaking, a black hole appeared in Lin An's palm.

As the seed struggled to be pulled back, nine bloody shadows suddenly rushed out from the bottom of Medicine King Valley—the vengeful spirits of the ancient Bronze Clan priests from back then!

"We've been waiting for you!"

Lin An allowed the vengeful spirit to enter his body, and the Devouring Wheel in his sea of ​​consciousness spun wildly.

When the last trace of resentment was refined, primordial purple energy appeared on his forehead, and he officially stepped into the realm of human immortals!